1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a urological patient positioning table of the type having a patient positioning plate that with a head end and a foot end, and having a lifting column connected to the patient positioning plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Patient positioning tables of this type are utilized for urological examinations of patients as well as for surgical interventions in urogenital regions of patients. Urological patent positioning tables are distinguished by relatively short patient positioning plates having lengths of around 1 m to 1.50 m that suffice for suitably supporting the patient. As a rule, the patient positioning plate of a urological patient positioning table has an x-ray transparent region in order, in combination with an x-ray system, to be able to implement radiological examinations of urogenital regions of patients, or surgical interventions in urogenital regions, under x-ray supervision. In order to be able to examine a patient not only in a prone position but also in a seated or standing posture, the patient positioning plate of a urological patient positioning table is pivotable around an axis that usually proceeds horizontally at a right angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the patient positioning plate.
Such a patient positioning table is disclosed, for example, in German OS 42 10 866. The patient positioning table has a patient positioning plate with a foot end and a head end that is connected to a lifting column arranged at the foot end of the patient positioning plate. With a swivel mechanism that is likewise arranged at the foot end of the patient positioning plate, which is the support side of the urogenital region of a patient, the patient positioning plate is pivotable relative to the lifting column around a horizontal axis. A disadvantage of this patient positioning table is that the urogenital region of a patient seated on the patient positioning table is only partly accessible to a urologist examining the patient. The lifting column that is disposed laterally at the foot end of the patient positioning plate can act as an impediment to free access to the urogenital region of the patient, and the swivel device arranged at the foot end under the patient positioning plate for pivoting the patent positioning plate around the horizontally proceeding axis can act as an impediment to the legs of a urologist working at the patient positioning table in a sitting position.
German OS 197 21 537 discloses another patient positioning table of the type initially described having a lifting column and a patient positioning plate that is pivotable around a horizontal proceeding axis with a swivel device arranged at the foot end of the patient positioning plate. With this patient positioning table, the accessibility to the patient borne on the patient positioning plate is in fact improved as a result of the lifting column being arranged under the patient positioning plate; nonetheless, impediments for a urologist examining a patient borne on the patient positioning plate can occur due to the lifting column being arranged at the examination side for the urogenital region and the swivel device being connected to the lifting column.
Then object of the present invention is to implement a urological patient positioning table of the type initially described such that a patient placed on the patient positioning plate is freely accessible laterally and frontally in the urogenital region.
This object is inventively achieved in a urological patient positioning table with a patient positioning plate that has a head end and a foot end and that has a carrying arm for the patient positioning plate connected to a lifting column, with the lifting column and the carrying arm are arranged at the head end of the patient positioning plate to the side next to the patient positioning plate. As a result of this arrangement of the lifting column, access to the urogenital region (placed at the foot end of the patient plate) of a patient positioned on the patient positioning plate in a lying position is not impeded by the lifting column of the patient positioning table, so that the urogenital region of a patient on the patient positioning plate is freely accessible at both sides as well as frontally.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,271 discloses a patient positioning table provided for surgery, catheterization, angiography or traumatology that has a carrying arm connected to a support column. The carrying arm has a fastening mechanism, so that a patient positioning plate can be optionally secured to the carrying arm projecting away from the carrying arm to the left or right.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the patient positioning plate of the urological patient positioning table is pivotable around a substantially horizontal axis, the horizontal axis being arranged at the head end of the patient positioning plate and proceeding substantially at a right angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the plate. The arrangement of the horizontal axis of the patient positioning table at the head end of the patient positioning plate makes it possible to keep the foot end of the patient positioning plate, which represents the treatment side of a patient in a lying position on the patient positioning table, free of any and all component, i.e. free of a swivel device containing the axis. Since components of a swivel device are not located under the patient positioning plate at the foot end of the patient positioning plate there are, moreover, no impediments for the legs of a urologist projecting under the patient positioning plate when the urologist examines a patient when seated.
In another embodiment of the invention, the patient positioning plate can be swivelled around the horizontal axisxe2x80x94proceeding from a horizontal initial positionxe2x80x94in an angular range from a +90xc2x0 raised position to a xe2x88x9220xc2x0 lowered position of the foot end of the patient positioning plate. The invention thereby allows repositioning the patient for sitting or standing examinations, i.e. positioning the patient with his/her head at the actual foot end and the buttocks at the actual head end of the patient positioning plate. To this end, a seat and a bench can be attached to the head end of the patient positioning plate. An examination of a patient in a sitting or standing posture would in fact also be possible at the patient positioning plate if the patient positioning plate were pivoted around the horizontally proceeding axis by xe2x88x9290xc2x0, i.e. lowered position of the foot end of the patient positioning plate, from its horizontal initial position. In this case, however, a relatively large, vertical adjustment motion of the horizontally proceeding axis and of the patient positioning plate would have to ensue in order, given the required swivel event, to avoid contact of the patent positioning plate with the floor of the room containing the patient positioning table; for this reason, the first version is preferred.
In another version of the invention, the patient positioning plate has an x-ray transparent region in order to implement radiological examinations of the urogenital region of a patient at the patient positioning table. The patient positioning plate can be completely formed of a material that is transparent to x-rays.
In an embodiment of the invention, the patient positioning table has a stand for accepting at least one apparatus part, and an x-ray source and an x-ray receiver can be attached to the stand in one version of the invention. Preferably, the x-ray source to and the x-ray receiver, which can be an x-ray image intensifier, an aSi flat image detector or an x-ray film, are arranged at the stand lying opposite one another so that the central ray of an x-ray beam emanating from the x-ray source is approximately try centrally incident on the x-ray receiver.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the stand has at least two sections directed substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the patient positioning plate, which has an upper side for the patient positioning and a lower side. One section is arranged at the side of the upper side and the other section is arranged at the side of the lower side of the patient positioning plate. In a version of the invention, the x-ray source is arranged at the one section and the x-ray receiver is arranged at the other section. Independently of one another, the x-ray source and the x-ray receiver are adjustable relative to the respective section that carries them, this adjustment ensuing substantially in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the patient positioning plate and/or transversely relative to the longitudinal axis of the patient positioning plate. In another version of the invention, the adjustments of the x-ray source and of the x-ray receiver preferably ensue synchronously. These embodiments of the invention make it possible to keep the patient as well as the stand at rest during radiological examination of various body regions of the patient positioned on the patient positioning table. The risk of injuries is thereby reduced for patients who, for example, undergo surgical interventions under x-ray supervision wherein, as in endoscopic interventions during which instruments are employed, the x-ray receiver and the patient must be displaced relative to one another for the purpose of x-ray monitoring. Because the x-ray source as well as the x-ray receiver (rather than the stand) are displaced relative to the patient, the stand no longer blocks access to the patient given x-ray exposures of the urogenital region of a patient, as is usually the case given adjustable stands that must be placed next to the urogenital region for such x-ray exposures.
In a further version of the invention the patient positioning table has the carrying by part connected to the lifting column pivotable around the horizontal axis relative to the lifting column, with the patient positioning plate and the stand arranged at the carrying part. In this way, the patient positioning plate and the stand can be pivoted in common around the horizontally proceeding axis.
In further versions of the invention the patient positioning plate and/or the stand are adjustable relative to the carrying part in the direction of the longitudinal axis and/or transversely relative to the longitudinal axis of the patient positioning plate, so that versatile possibilities for placing a patient relative to the x-ray source and the x-ray receiver are achieved.